This week: UK advertising in the media

In this weekly series we pull together, in one place, a selection of must-reads from across our industry media. Hope you find it a useful edit of another week in advertising!

How our pandemic experience has reshaped our relationship with brands

We are emerging from the pandemic as a very different society from the one that went into it, writes Saatchi & Saatchi’s head of data Charlie Archer.

ITV’s media-for-equity dealmaker is just getting started

Four months after launching, ITV AdVentures has closed its fourth media-for-equity deal with a start-up. But is this really the future of TV media-buying for new brands or just a late-pandemic phase?

UK winners of Campaign 40 Over 40 revealed

It is the first year of the awards in the UK.

“The Best Brands are Created with Sound”

Laura Jordan Bambach, Grey London president and chief creative officer, on how music and sound sets the emotional tone of a brand and the power of sonic branding.

Specsavers, search insight and an award-winning pandemic response

In March 2020, Specsavers launched the Covid-19 Care Hub, a content library designed to respond to rapid shifts in search behaviours, trends, and customer concerns.

Adidas’s sale of Reebok makes strategic sense all round

Reebok hasn’t reached the heights of the 1980s and 90s since Adidas bought it in 2006, and its sale means Adidas can focus on its ‘branded house’ while new owner ABG has the skills to bring Reebok into its ‘house of brands’.

What’s next for InfoSum, the company behind ITV and Channel 4’s data privacy tech

It’s been one year since ITV announced it had appointed InfoSum, a then little-known “privacy by design” tech company, to allow advertisers to blend their data with a broadcaster’s audience data without causing a breach.

How machine learning can help us build effective contextual advertising

Yaroslav Kholod, director of programmatic operations at Admixer, explains what the industry must do to build a convincing contextual advertising infrastructure capable of taking the pressure off the soon-to-be dismantled third party cookie.

First phase of Project Origin testing ‘exceeds expectations’

ISBA says initiative should launch in 2023 after successful testing across TV.

MediaCom, Global and ITV lead Media Week Awards shortlists

80 companies entered this year’s awards.

A peek into the metaverse: How to prevent a virtual world from becoming a dystopian nightmare

As big tech scrambles to build the metaverse, five technology experts prophesy what our lives will look like inside a virtual world, whether privacy and governance will be established, and how brands will occupy the space.

MullenLowe wins back government Covid-19 work

Cabinet Office was contractually forced to move responsibility to Engine after original contract expired.

Creatives share the advertising cheat codes they’re deploying to win a make-or-break Christmas

There’s a lot riding on Christmas 2021, with many still reeling from the muted celebrations of 2020. As part of The Drum’s Retail Deep Dive, The Drum probed top agency creatives for their cheat codes, to share how they’re giving it their all to reignite the Christmas love.

Innovation, future growth, ecommerce: 5 interesting stats to start your week

We arm you with all the numbers you need to tackle the week ahead.

‘Trustworthy, modern, expert’: Boots crowned June’s most effective ad

Having scored in the top 20% of all UK ads for both branding and building affinity for the brand, Boots’ ‘Feel Good as New’ is revealed as the most effective TV ad of June.

Influencers want to be paid more than ever. Blame the pandemic

How much are influencers worth? COVID-19 is making the question even more complicated.

Does adland’s jobs boom show companies cut too deeply last year?

Industry leaders and headhunters respond to pressing question.